Abstract
ON 7 December 185, astronomers at the imperial observatory of Lo-Yang, in central China, reported a 'guest star' in the southern sky. Their records of its appearance, gradual fading and disappearance constitute the oldest compelling historical account of a supernova. It is widely believed that the remnant of this explosion is MSH14–63, but the identification is problematic, in particular because the position of MSH14–63 with respect to the Sun and the horizon would have made it invisible for some of the time when the guest star was said to be visible. I argue here that the Chinese astronomers actually witnessed the birth of the pulsar PSR1509–58 in the supernova remnant MSH15–52. This is then only the second pulsar, after that in the Crab nebula (PSR0531 + 21), to have a known age. Timing measurements of the age of PSR1509–58 are consistent with its birth ∼1,800 years ago, and future measurements of the distance to MSH15–52 and its rate of expansion should conclusively establish or disprove this identification.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Clark, D. H. & Stephenson, F. R. The Historical Supernovae (Pergamon, Oxford, 1977).
Lundmark, K. Publ. astr. Soc. Pacific 33, 225–238 (1921).
Duyvendak, J. J. L. Publ. astr. Soc. Pacific 54, 91–94 (1942).
Mayall, N. U. & Oort, J. H. Publ. astr. Soc. Pacific 54, 95–104 (1942).
Williams, J. Observations of Comets: From 611 B.C. to A.D. 1640 (London, 1871).
Huang, Y.-L. & Moriarty-Schieven, G. H. Science 235, 59–60 (1987).
Ho, P. Y. The Astronomical Chapters of the Chin Shu (Mouton, Paris, 1966).
Westerlund, B. E. Astr. J. 74, 879 (1969).
Leibowitz, E. M. & Danziger, I. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 204, 273 (1983).
Green, D. A. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 209, 449–478 (1984).
Clark, D. H. & Caswell, J. L. Mon Not. R. astr. Soc. 174, 267–305 (1976).
Lyne, A. G. & Bailes, M. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 246, 15–17 (1990).
Claas, J. J., Smith, A., Kaastra, J. S., de Korte, P. A. J. & Peacock, A. Astrophys. J. 337, 399–407 (1989).
Seward, F. D., Harnden, F. R., Murdin, P. & Clark, D. H. Astrophys. J. 267, 698–710 (1983).
Caswell, J. L., Murray, J. D., Roger, R. S., Cole, D. J. & Cooke, D. J. Astr. Astrophys. 45, 239 (1975).
Seward, F. D. & Harnden, F. R. Astrophys. J. 256, L45–L47 (1982).
Manchester, R. N., Tuohy, I. R. & D'Amico, N. Astrophys. J. 262, L31–L33 (1982).
Seward, F. D., Harnden, F. R., Szymkowiak, A. & Swank, J. Astrophys. J. 281, 650–657 (1984).
Manchester, R. N., Durdin, J. M. & Newton, L. M. Nature 313, 374–376 (1985).
Manchester, R. N. & Taylor, J. H. Pulsars (Freeman, San Francisco, 1977).
van den Bergh, S. & Kamper, K. W. Astrophys. J. 280, L51–L54 (1984).
Srinivasan, G., Dwarakanath, K. S. & Radhakrishnan, V. Curr Sci. 51, 596 (1982).
Bhattacharya, D. J. Astrophys. Astr. 11, 125–140 (1990).
Lortet, M. C., Georgelin, Y. P. & Georgelin, Y. M. Astr. Astrophys. 180, 65–72 (1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thorsett, S. Identification of the pulsar PSR1509–58 with the 'guest star' of AD 185. Nature 356, 690–691 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/356690a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/356690a0
This article is cited by
-
The Impact of Historical Chinese Astronomical Records
Astrophysics and Space Science (2006)
-
Identification of the guest star of AD 185 as a comet rather than a supernova
Nature (1994)
-
Dating supernova remnants
Nature (1992)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
